Wolverine has his own book, why not the other x-men?

[AppleJ]

Heck, I would just be happy with characters getting their own spotlight issues now and then on the "team" books.

But yeah, I do love a good miniseries.

[Dthirds3]

Giving others solos would require the team to put more effort behind it and be creative, innovating, and bring their A game and beyond for every issue. Logan lets face it 80 blank pages would sell like hot cake. Hes a safer bet and required less effort. What to you want marvel give a **** and pushing every character to sell as great as possible that alot of effort

[Captain Nash]

Wolverine, Deadpool and Cable all had long running solo books (if we're counting Deadpool as an X-book at this point?) Other characters have had solo books that were not mini series but were also short lived. If they had been profitable they would have continued on, most likely. Although I think at times some of these didn't move books that well due to editorial decisions, and a mismatch of character and writing/art (polite speak for they just weren't that good).

X-23/All New Wolverine had a book that was over 25 issues, as well as several other short runs. Dazzler had a solo waaaaay back but that was a unique situation with her. Still, it did exist. X-Man had a solo that ran for 75 issues I think it was, that was quite successful at first but kind of fizzled out. I'll admit I didn't read much past the first two years so I'm not sure if he developed a good antagonist.

Gambit, Mystique, Magneto, and Emma Frost all had solos book that were mid length (over 12 months but 25 or less, if I recall correctly) - noting Gambit has had more than one book but I think his second non-mini series was 12 issues?

These books were mostly great reads but the there just wasn't enough of a story to go on indefinitely, once they had a few stories to tell, the well ran dry. I particularly really liked the Mystique series. And I'm sorry but the Emma Frost book was there as a fanboy Fetish book.

Rogue, Iceman, Storm, Bishop, and Nightcrawler (young) Cyclops and (young) Grey all had solos that ran for 12 issues or less but were not considered miniseries. I feel like there's another book I'm missing but can't quite place it..

In the last category especially there simply wasn't a good take of the character to be compelling enough to enough people to make the book profitable. I enjoyed some of them and some of them were just okay or forgettable (I should note I have not read the Bishop solo). I thought the Storm book had potential, more than any, but there was a lack of good antagonists. And I think that's a fairly big problem for all of the books in the last two categories. Sometimes what makes a hero's story so great isn't the hero, but the villains. Without a compelling villain the story just isn't as interesting as it could be. Most X-Men aside from Deadpool, Cable and Wolverine do not have an archnemesis (Bishop/Fitzroy is an exception and a case could be made for Callisto or even Shadow King for Storm, but one is really not enough of an antagonist and the other is too far reaching to be just her antagonist.)

[BESTXMAN]

I wish Cyclops had a solo but to be honest, whatever team book he's in he's always the protagonist. Even with Wolverine around.

[Silver Fang]

Giving others solos would require the team to put more effort behind it and be creative, innovating, and bring their A game and beyond for every issue. Logan lets face it 80 blank pages would sell like hot cake. Hes a safer bet and required less effort. What to you want marvel give a **** and pushing every character to sell as great as possible that alot of effort

I agree with this. Wolverine is safe & easy which doesn't require as much effort. Writing solos for other characters requires they actually know something about them. lmao!

[LordMikel]

Wolverine, Deadpool and Cable all had long running solo books (if we're counting Deadpool as an X-book at this point?) Other characters have had solo books that were not mini series but were also short lived. If they had been profitable they would have continued on, most likely. Although I think at times some of these didn't move books that well due to editorial decisions, and a mismatch of character and writing/art (polite speak for they just weren't that good).

X-23/All New Wolverine had a book that was over 25 issues, as well as several other short runs. Dazzler had a solo waaaaay back but that was a unique situation with her. Still, it did exist. X-Man had a solo that ran for 75 issues I think it was, that was quite successful at first but kind of fizzled out. I'll admit I didn't read much past the first two years so I'm not sure if he developed a good antagonist.

Gambit, Mystique, Magneto, and Emma Frost all had solos book that were mid length (over 12 months but 25 or less, if I recall correctly) - noting Gambit has had more than one book but I think his second non-mini series was 12 issues?

These books were mostly great reads but the there just wasn't enough of a story to go on indefinitely, once they had a few stories to tell, the well ran dry. I particularly really liked the Mystique series. And I'm sorry but the Emma Frost book was there as a fanboy Fetish book.

Rogue, Iceman, Storm, Bishop, and Nightcrawler (young) Cyclops and (young) Grey all had solos that ran for 12 issues or less but were not considered miniseries. I feel like there's another book I'm missing but can't quite place it..

In the last category especially there simply wasn't a good take of the character to be compelling enough to enough people to make the book profitable. I enjoyed some of them and some of them were just okay or forgettable (I should note I have not read the Bishop solo). I thought the Storm book had potential, more than any, but there was a lack of good antagonists. And I think that's a fairly big problem for all of the books in the last two categories. Sometimes what makes a hero's story so great isn't the hero, but the villains. Without a compelling villain the story just isn't as interesting as it could be. Most X-Men aside from Deadpool, Cable and Wolverine do not have an archnemesis (Bishop/Fitzroy is an exception and a case could be made for Callisto or even Shadow King for Storm, but one is really not enough of an antagonist and the other is too far reaching to be just her antagonist.)

Very well written.

[loke13]

Cyclops would be good to see if he could get a solo ongoing like Wolverine, so his fans stop asking for a solo
even if Scott has been protagonist on X-men for dcecades

If Marvel doesn't give a lot of solos for x-men is because they keep failing

I'm not sure Scott really needs a solo tbh X-Men is basically putting the spotlight on him. It would be like giving Xavier or Magneto a solo right about now Hickman seems pretty focused on these particular characters.

[charliehustle415]

Unpopular opinion but the solo series format IMO doesnt really fit the narrative of the current Krakoa era

I totally agree, Krakoa is all about mutant society, solo books takes away the focus from that.

But editorially speaking, continuity can be a bitch when it comes to solos because now you are hamstrung by the big flagship.

Nothing Marvel can do would made me happier than a Cyclops solo with a great creative team, but it won't happen.

I honestly believe that any X-Men other than Wolverine have the same chances of suscess, but first they need someone to want to make a solo story about them, and some characters are considered by Marvel and the writers as team characters, unfortunately, Cyclops is one of those. Unless some big name writer really wants it, most x-characters will only ever be on teams.

Cyclops had Rucka and Dauterman series recently, but it was young Cyke.... boo

[rhaenylis]

I totally agree, Krakoa is all about mutant society, solo books takes away the focus from that.

But editorially speaking, continuity can be a bitch when it comes to solos because now you are hamstrung by the big flagship.



Cyclops had Rucka and Dauterman series recently, but it was young Cyke.... boo

I loved this solo
Rucka and Dauterman really did a great job with Tyke
Then he was messed up (in the X-books, I liked him a lot in Champions)

[Grunty]

I agree with this. Wolverine is safe & easy which doesn't require as much effort. Writing solos for other characters requires they actually know something about them. lmao!

It feels to me like every or nearly every Wolverine story is following the same of 2 starting points.

1. Wolverine in his loner tendency travels to some away from the X-men's sphere of influence location where he encounters some one-shot villains or some personal enemy of his and some local one-shot support character(s).
2. Something from Wolverine's dark past returns and he travels to some away from the X-men's sphere of influence location where he encounters some one-shot villains or some personal enemy of his and some local one shot support character(s).

This is then seemingly followed by the same pattern for how the story is resolved.
1. Wolverine gets horrible injured (and often captured) either directly or indirectly. 2. He gets help from support characters if they exist in the story. 3. He recovers from his horrible injuries quickly. 4. 50/50 chance the one-shot support character dies. 5. He fights the villain, usualy slashing his way through nameless, facless, hordes of minions first and either kills the villain or they miraculously escape either to return later under the same writer or be forgotten by writers and readers alike.

In the past 16 years of actively following what's going on in X-men comics i can only remember a few Wolverine solo stories which really feel like they stand out or break the pattern above, yet they regulary get good to great receptions unless the telling of the familiar story or art were truely terrible.
Despite not being a fan of the current X-men status quo and feeling many of the current titles are weakly written or squandering their premise, i still find it amusing how the Wolverine solo gets good reviews or downright praise despite feeling the same old to me.

It gives me the impression that what counts for a successfull Wolverine solo book isn't the writing or the story, but just how competently the writer can follow the familiar pattern and how good the art for it looks.
If both are solid, it will sell like hotcakes either way.

Though i admit the repetition aspect could be said for a lot of solo series, where after decades the writers really can't reinvent the wheel with the character anymore and just try to do something noticable with the familiar pattern in the hope that their take on it gets remembered above the grey mass of identical previous issues.

Thinking about it, it seems that what allows a solo series to keep on going is not the character or how interesting they or their stories are, but just how well they develop a momentum where, what ever the book is good or bad, the people in charge feel like they can give the character a new chance over and over.

After all there is that common paradox in the entertainment industry, where if something popular fails it's blamed on a bad take, but if something unproven fails it's written off entirely as just not working in general.

Though in this case one could also say that almost every X-men character has the potential for a solo series, all they need is for the people in charge to give them chances until they develop enough momentum and an accepted familiar pattern, at which point their bad stories are just written off as bad stories, rather than the character not working.

[Frobisher]

Glob Herman could totally carry a solo book.

[sunofdarkchild]

Most of these characters were designed for a team book. The X-Men are different from the Justice League or Avengers that way. Cyclops is a team leader. He only works in that context. Put him in a solo and you take away what makes him tick and all you're left with is a guy who shoots lasers out his eyes with no ability to function on his own. It's the same with many other characters. It's also a big part of why they keep putting the New Mutants back together. Even the characters who have broken out like Sam and Roberto didn't do so on their own but as part of another team book. With the exception of Magik none of those characters could carry a solo.

[Killerbee911]

So my pet peeve the X-men have two issues the first one is many characters are designed without a secondary job or skill. And the second one is the X-men aren't "superheroes" in the classic sense meaning the X-men really don't patrol the city to fight crime.

Now it is fiction and you should be able to go Cyclops is a fighter pilot, Storm is a lawyer, Iceman is a medic but fans are generally resistant to change they haven't seen. So if all sudden a Jean Grey solo tells you she is Dr. Jean Grey a lot of fans would be resistant to change. So the big reason many X-men don't have solos is that X-men franchise is flawed and doesn't set them up for easy success as solo characters. And it is the stupidest thing ever because Xavier is a SCHOOL. So who has work in solos

Mercs -Cable, Domino,Wolverine, X-23
Jobs- Bishop(Cop), Gambit(Thief) Dazzler(Musician)

Generally, X-men who joined with a preexisting job are the ones that have slightly more success with solos with Wolverine being the most successful from that bunch. The Original 5 and New Mutants have "the we don't have a useful skill" for the story issue and despite being more popular than some characters I mentioned above they have struggled when they have gotten solo books. Bishop will get a solo book over Cyclops way easier because you can write about Bishop as Cop or Solider with Cyclops you have to work a little bit harder at establishing a purpose for a book. Remember Cyclops isn't running around fighting crime like Spiderman so you have to get a lot more creative with the setups.

It is a 100% percent fixable problem that is solved by assigning mission roles like a tracker, medic, tech guy, combat specialist, stealth specialist, etc, to every X-character (aka Xavier is a superhero/spy school) and establishing that Xavier school is teaching useful things( aka Xavier is a real school of higher learning). At some point, you mention that Cannonball, Magik, Moonstar, etc have graduated and they have degrees in "stuff". So the result instead of Cannonball, Magik, Moonstar Uhm X-men who do stuff, You have Cannonball he was a Tracker and learn to be a mechanic, Magik she was a combat specialist and got a degree in botany, Moonstar she was a team leader and has a degree in Law. Now interesting design and character traits/backstory still play a part but setting up characters to have skills and jobs it makes a pitch for a solo book easier.

Now the franchise could try leaning harder on the superhero angle I believe Claremont XSE era and I believe when the move to San Franciso they tried a more traditional hero set up as well. Plus something like Uncanny Avengers or government lead X-factor also can get people use to the X-men randomly fighting crime. My biggest wish is X-factor becomes the "PR" team like how X-force has become the "Black ops" team. Having an X-men team who is always running around trying to save to world and help people would create a group of X-men who you always see as traditional heroes which would help the transition to solo as well.

PS. Just for fun PR Team Iceman, Dazzler, Firestar, Monet, Angel, Nightcrawler and Storm.

[Rang10]

Most of these characters were designed for a team book. The X-Men are different from the Justice League or Avengers that way. Cyclops is a team leader. He only works in that context. Put him in a solo and you take away what makes him tick and all you're left with is a guy who shoots lasers out his eyes with no ability to function on his own. It's the same with many other characters. It's also a big part of why they keep putting the New Mutants back together. Even the characters who have broken out like Sam and Roberto didn't do so on their own but as part of another team book. With the exception of Magik none of those characters could carry a solo.

I'm not even sure if Magik can carry a solo.

Well x-men started as team. JL and avengers were the team up of solo heroes.

I think besides Logan, the only other solo character with sales is Laura as Wolverine a bit ironic

[Triniking1234]

Possessing a real-life skill might not help. The Thing had his solo and Two-In-One but his civilian skill as a pilot never influenced his stories.
There's also Hawkeye (Clint) and Star-Lord who's hero skills are their civilian skills.